Educating Mental Health Nurse Practitioners on Interprofessional Collaboration and Preparing Them for Collaborative Practice.

Background: Although interprofessional collaboration (IPC) has been discussed for over 40 years, in nursing education as well as the majority of health professionals, education continues to primarily take place in silos with curricula that is discipline specific. Educators need to implement models of education that are linked to collaborative practice and team-based care.

Objectives: To introduce the principles from the Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice and the National Organization of Nurse Practitioners Faculties Nurse Practitioner Core Competencies into the coursework.

Use of an educational intervention to increase screening for antenatal depression in an obstetrics and gynecology practice.

Background: Depression affects approximately 12% of pregnant women and increases maternal and fetal risk during pregnancy and the postpartum period. The United States Preventative Services Task Force and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend that all prenatal care include depression screening. This study assessed the effectiveness of an educational intervention to increase screening for depression during prenatal care.

A Quality Improvement Project Using Verbal De-Escalation to Reduce Seclusion and Patient Aggression in an Inpatient Psychiatric Unit.

The use of seclusion is controversial and has been deemed an encroachment on human rights and dignity which can cause psychological trauma and physical injury to patients in the psychiatric setting. This quality improvement project used a quasi-experimental design to implement the TeamSTEPPS educational program, an evidenced-based program to inform nurses about verbal de-escalation to reduce patient aggressive behavior that can lead to patient seclusion. The targeted patient population included all patients admitted 2 months prior to initiation of Team STEPPS (n = 388) and 2 months following completion of the education modules (n = 342).

Implementation of Nurse-Driven Standardized Protocols to Reduce Behavioral Health Patients' Length of Stay Within the ED: A Quality Improvement Initiative.

Background: Patients presenting to the ED, with behavioral health crises in the United States, are frequently held for hours to days awaiting evaluation, medical clearance, and transfer to a behavioral health facility or discharge from the ED. Extended boarding of behavioral health patients can create an unsafe and potentially dangerous environment, placing additional demands on EDs.

Objective: Identify and improve processes that delay treatment for mental health patients in the ED.

Educating Nurses to Use a Brief Tobacco Cessation Intervention With Patients on a Mood Disorder Unit in a Midwestern U.S. Hospital.

Background: Evidence shows that smoking cessation interventions are effective in reducing individual's smoking behavior. Despite tobacco cessation efforts, individuals with mental illness smoke more than do members of the general population.

Objective: This study's objective was to determine whether educating nurses to use an evidence-based brief tobacco intervention would improve educating patients on smoking cessation and lead to more patients accepting nicotine replacement therapy (NRT).

Using a Veterans Affairs Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Group Therapy Program With Refugees.

The PTSD Recovery Program, an intervention based on guidelines for the treatment of combat Veterans diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that includes group therapy as adjunctive treatment to medication and individual therapy, was used for the treatment of PTSD in refugees at a clinic in central Texas. Eighteen clients diagnosed with PTSD completed 10 weekly group therapy sessions in addition to individual therapy and medication use. An in-service presentation educated providers on the PTSD Recovery Program and the group therapy intervention.

Improving patient education about tobacco withdrawal and nicotine gum use by registered nurses in inpatient psychiatry: A feasibility study.

Unlabelled: WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: Many psychiatric inpatients use tobacco, but most psychiatric hospital units prohibit tobacco use. Psychiatric nurses do not receive adequate education about how to teach patients to best manage tobacco withdrawal symptoms. WHAT DOES THIS PAPER ADD TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: Psychiatric nurses who receive a brief educational intervention about tobacco withdrawal symptoms and best practices for using nicotine gum may be more prepared to teach patients about these topics.

Complementary and Integrative Health Practices for Depression.

The current article reviews selected complementary health approaches for the treatment of depressive symptoms. Complementary and integrative health (CIH) focuses on the whole person with the goal of optimal health-body, mind, and spirit. Patient use of integrative health practices and products is increasing; therefore, providers must understand these practices and products and be able to recommend or advise for or against their use based on research and guidelines.

Assessing Depression in the Primary Care Setting.

Depression affects almost 10% of the adult population in the United States but often goes unrecognized and untreated. The World Health Organization predicts depression soon to be the second leading cause of disability. Recognizing the signs and symptoms of depression and then feeling confident to treat are limitations many primary care providers acknowledge.

Primary care management of depression in children and adolescents.

Depression is the most common mental health disorder in children and adolescents, and primary care is often the first point of contact for children and adolescents with depression. Depression impacts all areas of life, impairing academics and interactions with family and friends. The purpose of this article is to help NPs identify and treat children and adolescents presenting with depression in the primary care setting.

An application of Bowen family systems theory.

While nurse practitioners initially work with the identified patient, Murray Bowen maintains it is the reciprocal functioning of all the members of the family which contributes to the emotional intensity of the patient. The emotional symptoms of an individual are an expression of the emotional symptoms of the family, which are often embedded in patterns of behaviors from past generations. The purpose of this paper is to facilitate understanding Bowen's theoretical concepts of family systems theory and apply these concepts to a family in therapy.